We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. By
continuing to browse, we are assuming that you have no objection in accepting cookies.
You can change your cookie
settings at any time.

Spamfilter Module Overview

To open the Spamfilter window, click on the DASHBOARD button and then on the Spamfilter button. You will see the Spamfilter main screen.

You can modify Spamfilter behaviour,by clicking on the “Edit blacklist” and “Edit whitelist” buttons, and fine tune the Spamfilter by running the e-mail client guide. The module can be configured from both the BullGuard application and the e-mail client.

Configure: provides a quick configuration guide for your preferred e-mail client. By running this guide you can choose the default folder where e-mails will be placed and manage your Spamfilter white list.

Edit white list: allows you to review and manage the list with e-mail addresses and/or domains that will not be considered spam.

The SETTINGS button in the toolbar: opens the section where you can access the general settings that will apply to all e-mail clients on your computer.

Each supported e-mail client will also display the Spamfilter toolbar allowing you to open the Spamfilter tab from the BullGuard interface, mark e-mails as spam or not spam as needed and run the Spamfilter Guide that will finish configuring the application for the used e-mail client.

Microsoft Outlook toolbar

Windows Mail toolbar

IncrediMail toolbar

Mozilla Thunderbird toolbar

The Spamfilter Guide client is important as it will fine tune the Spamfilter, increasing the spam detection rate, and avoid marking legitimate e-mails as junk. The Guide should automatically start the first time you open your e-mail client after installing BullGuard. You can also choose to run it manually by simply clicking the Guide button from the Spamfilter toolbar added to your e-mail client window.

How does BullGuard help you keep your inbox clean?

BullGuard’s Spamfilter consists of two modules that will help you get rid of spam e-mails:

The local component is the Spamfilter client installed on your computer that will interact with your e-mail client. When receiving e-mails, it will send spam e-mails to a designated spam folder. It will allow you to mark e-mails as spam or as legitimate messages (for 'false positive' cases in which e-mails that you need have been mistaken for spam). Also, using the Guide you can attune the Spamfilter to your e-mail client so that it will catch spam more effectively and reduce false positive cases as much as possible.

Another component is the "Bayesian filter", which is personalized to each user and adapts automatically to changes in spam e-mail content. To determine the likelihood that an e-mail is spam, this type of filter uses Bayesian analysis to compare the words or phrases in it to the frequency of the same words or phrases in your previous e-mails, both legitimate and spam. Bayesian filters are very powerful and are regarded as one of the most accurate techniques for blocking spam.

The BullGuard Spamfilter is a collaborative filter which uses the collective input of BullGuard users worldwide to build a database of spam footprints. As this footprint database grows, Bullguard Spamfilter becomes increasingly sophisticated and accurate when blocking unsolicited mail. Your input is therefore key in ensuring that you and other BullGuard users receive a minimum of unsolicited e-mails in the future. Please note that no personal / identifiable information is included in the footprint.

The Spamfilter supports Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, Windows Mail, Mozilla Thunderbird and IncrediMail e-mail clients. For each e-mail client you will have a specific toolbar added allowing you to mark/unmark e-mails as spam.

Why do e-mail addresses get swamped by spam e-mails?

The main issue with spam is that you don’t necessarily need to have a rampaging virus infecting your computer and wreaking havoc, or a hacker on your computer, to receive massive amounts of spam e-mails. Sometimes you don’t need to do anything to be swamped by spam e-mails. Here are some ways in which you can get your inbox full of those junk e-mails overnight:

A friend of yours who uses an e-mail client and has your e-mail address stored in it can get infected with viruses/malware that read the address book and send it off to a spam server.

You may have posted your e-mail address on a website to be able to receive a newsletter, a website where it can be picked up by programs browsing a specified list of internet websites and sent to a spam server.

There are automated 'bots' that just browse forums to harvest e-mail addresses that can be spammed at any time; it only takes one reply posted on one forum.

A friend of yours may have given your e-mail address to a forum requesting him to invite other people to join, in order to get full membership.

Some spam servers use dictionary words and known domains (like @yahoo.com or @msn.com) to randomly spam e-mail addresses.

If you made it to a spam server e-mailing list, there is a high probability that your e-mail address will be sent to other servers as well: it is a known fact that spammers exchange e-mail address lists.

The fact is that there are countless ways in which you can receive spam e-mails and, unfortunately, you cannot avoid spam through precautions and careful behaviour. Best practices are still recommended as you will be less exposed to receiving spam. You could say it is not a question of whether you receive spam, but how much you receive - to keep it to a minimum, a spam filter solution is always a good option.

Best practices to reduce the spam amount you risk getting in your e-mail inbox

Some people create a 'sacrifice' e-mail address they use when registering on some websites, forums, blogs until they are certain that they will not get spammed. They then switch to their regular e-mail address if the website proves trustworthy.

Never provide your e-mail address to untrustworthy sites/forums/blogs or persons.

Try not to use your e-mail address in signatures for postings on forums or blogs that are not secured by a login procedure. If you use signatures with your e-mail address, please note that there are computer programs which are designed to browse blogs or forums to harvest e-mail addresses.

Always have an active Spamfilter on your computer (besides the one provided by your e-mail service provider).

Banks, PayPal or similar organizations will never ask you to provide them with your e-mail address or personal account details via e-mails or through other means of online communication.

Buried in spam e-mails, there can be lots of hidden threats to you or your computer:

Spoof e-mails imitating banking websites where you are asked to enter your bank/credit card account details under the false pretence that their database needs to refresh your account details or that it has reported unauthorized access to your account and you need to re-enter your details to unlock your account. Examples: e-mails from PayPal, from banks or other online payment companies.

Links to so-called free security products (generally known as rogue antivirus applications) that are actually spyware.

Websites with “free” applications that normally cost a great deal of money, requiring you to enter your e-mail address to be able to download them. These websites will collect the e-mail addresses entered on those pages for spam databases.